The Shikoku dialect has many similarities to Chūgoku dialect in grammar. Shikoku dialect uses ken for "because", and -yoru in progressive aspect and -toru or -choru in the perfect. Some people in Kōchi Prefecture use kin, kini, or ki instead of ken, -yō (Hata) or -yū (Tosa) instead of -yoru, and -chō (Hata) or -chū (Tosa) instead of -choru.

The largest difference between Shikoku dialect and Chūgoku dialect is in pitch accent. Except southwestern Ehime and western Kochi (yellow area on the right map), many dialects in Shikoku uses Kyoto-Osaka-type accent or its variations and are similar to Kansai dialect, but Chūgoku dialect uses a Tokyo-type accent.